The Wyss Institute at Harvard University
@wyssinstitute.bsky.social
The Wyss Institute seeks to transform engineering, medicine and the environment by creating new materials and devices using Nature’s design principles.
Wyss researchers are developing injectable immune organs (iNodes) that could transform ovarian cancer treatment by boosting immune responses to enable the formation of lymphoid organs and improve survival rates by at least 50%.
iNode: Implantable Lymphoid Organs for Ovarian Cancer Therapy
Over 12,000 women die of ovarian cancer every year, yet ovarian cancer receives less than 1% of research funding compared to other solid tumors. Early symptoms can often mimic less serious…
buff.ly
November 22, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Wyss researchers are developing injectable immune organs (iNodes) that could transform ovarian cancer treatment by boosting immune responses to enable the formation of lymphoid organs and improve survival rates by at least 50%.
Gina Wang approaches baking the same way she approaches science. The difference is that, in her research, she doesn't have a recipe. She’s making a novel device that could be used to monitor the progression of, and one day diagnose, ALS. Learn more about Gina and her work in this month’s #HOWyss.
Gina Wang on having the NERVE to detect ALS
The Humans of the Wyss (HOW) series features members of the Wyss community discussing their work, the influences that shape them as professionals, and their collaborations at the Wyss Institute and be...
wyss.harvard.edu
November 21, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Gina Wang approaches baking the same way she approaches science. The difference is that, in her research, she doesn't have a recipe. She’s making a novel device that could be used to monitor the progression of, and one day diagnose, ALS. Learn more about Gina and her work in this month’s #HOWyss.
Why has the U.S. government historically awarded grants for fundamental research?
While there’s no guarantee of immediate public benefit, crucial early-stage discoveries spawn developments that have real-world impact.
Follow three projects from government grant to patient impact.
While there’s no guarantee of immediate public benefit, crucial early-stage discoveries spawn developments that have real-world impact.
Follow three projects from government grant to patient impact.
How federal funds fuel life-saving innovation
Why has the U.S. government historically awarded grants for fundamental research when the results aren’t guaranteed to have near-term societal impact? This topic has gotten much attention in recent mo...
wyss.harvard.edu
November 20, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Why has the U.S. government historically awarded grants for fundamental research?
While there’s no guarantee of immediate public benefit, crucial early-stage discoveries spawn developments that have real-world impact.
Follow three projects from government grant to patient impact.
While there’s no guarantee of immediate public benefit, crucial early-stage discoveries spawn developments that have real-world impact.
Follow three projects from government grant to patient impact.
Reposted by The Wyss Institute at Harvard University
New work using cGAS #LipidNanoparticles shows how cancer cells can be used to contribute to their own elimination.
Check out the work from Drs. Alexander Cryer and Natalie Artzi at the @wyssinstitute.bsky.social and Brigham and Women’s Hospital: https://bit.ly/49terHm
Check out the work from Drs. Alexander Cryer and Natalie Artzi at the @wyssinstitute.bsky.social and Brigham and Women’s Hospital: https://bit.ly/49terHm
November 20, 2025 at 12:42 AM
New work using cGAS #LipidNanoparticles shows how cancer cells can be used to contribute to their own elimination.
Check out the work from Drs. Alexander Cryer and Natalie Artzi at the @wyssinstitute.bsky.social and Brigham and Women’s Hospital: https://bit.ly/49terHm
Check out the work from Drs. Alexander Cryer and Natalie Artzi at the @wyssinstitute.bsky.social and Brigham and Women’s Hospital: https://bit.ly/49terHm
Project Air is an affordable, accurate, and highly sensitive indoor air quality sensor developed in collaboration with @harvardseas.bsky.social, @gsd.harvard.edu, and the University of North Carolina. Learn more:
Project Air: Bioinspired Sensor of Volatile Compounds
We are bringing to market an innovative, bioinspired sensor of volatile compounds that gives building operators confidence in the measurement of gasses indoors and provides guidance to achieving healt...
wyss.harvard.edu
November 19, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Project Air is an affordable, accurate, and highly sensitive indoor air quality sensor developed in collaboration with @harvardseas.bsky.social, @gsd.harvard.edu, and the University of North Carolina. Learn more:
Orthopedic surgeons perform about 790,000 knee replacements & more than 450,000 hip replacements per year, & 2%-4% of those implanted devices will become infected. Researchers at the Wyss & @harvardseas.bsky.social have developed a novel vaccine strategy with the potential to solve this problem.
Biomaterial vaccines to make implanted orthopedic devices safer
By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Patients with implanted medical devices like orthopedic joint replacements, pacemakers, and artificial heart valves run a small but significant risk that these devices ...
wyss.harvard.edu
November 18, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Orthopedic surgeons perform about 790,000 knee replacements & more than 450,000 hip replacements per year, & 2%-4% of those implanted devices will become infected. Researchers at the Wyss & @harvardseas.bsky.social have developed a novel vaccine strategy with the potential to solve this problem.
We’re proud to share that nine Wyss Institute faculty and staff have been named to @clarivate.com Analytics’ Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list, which recognizes the top 1% of scientists worldwide whose research has been most frequently cited over the past decade.
Highly Cited Researchers 2025 honors nine Wyss members
By Alexandra Jirstrand (BOSTON) – Clarivate Analytics announced its Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list, which honors the top 1% of researchers around the world whose papers have been cited the most ov...
wyss.harvard.edu
November 17, 2025 at 7:03 PM
We’re proud to share that nine Wyss Institute faculty and staff have been named to @clarivate.com Analytics’ Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list, which recognizes the top 1% of scientists worldwide whose research has been most frequently cited over the past decade.
A new patient is added to the transplant waiting list about every eight minutes, and a shortage of donor organs leads to an average of 17 people dying each day as they wait. Wyss startup eGenesis is working toward ending the global transplant shortage & transforming the treatment of organ failure.
Engineered Pig Organs for Human Transplant
eGenesis is working toward ending the global transplant shortage and transforming the treatment of organ failure by using CRISPR to edit the pig genome to make their organs safe for transplant in…
buff.ly
November 16, 2025 at 4:03 PM
A new patient is added to the transplant waiting list about every eight minutes, and a shortage of donor organs leads to an average of 17 people dying each day as they wait. Wyss startup eGenesis is working toward ending the global transplant shortage & transforming the treatment of organ failure.
The Wyss' GeneSkin team is developing breakthrough mRNA therapies that focus on restoring the function of basal skin stem cells by reducing inflammation and mitigating cellular stress, which is critical for skin rejuvenation and hair restoration.
GeneSkin: A Novel mRNA Therapy for Skin and Hair Rejuvenation
GeneSkin is developing novel mRNA therapies to rejuvenate skin and hair by targeting basal stem cells. Using advanced microneedle delivery, our non-invasive treatments aim to reduce scarring, reverse…
buff.ly
November 15, 2025 at 4:12 PM
The Wyss' GeneSkin team is developing breakthrough mRNA therapies that focus on restoring the function of basal skin stem cells by reducing inflammation and mitigating cellular stress, which is critical for skin rejuvenation and hair restoration.
What if you could enjoy the taste of sugar, w/ the health benefits of fiber? Researchers at the Wyss created a micro-encapsulated enzyme product that can convert sugar to gut-healthy fiber in the human gut. Learn about this technology, developed in collaboration with Kraft Heinz. #WorldDiabetesDay
Is it possible to get the sweetness of sugar along with the health benefits of fiber?
Forget artificial sweeteners. Scientists at Harvard's Wyss Institute have developed a product that lets you eat sugar without absorbing all of it.
buff.ly
November 14, 2025 at 4:15 PM
What if you could enjoy the taste of sugar, w/ the health benefits of fiber? Researchers at the Wyss created a micro-encapsulated enzyme product that can convert sugar to gut-healthy fiber in the human gut. Learn about this technology, developed in collaboration with Kraft Heinz. #WorldDiabetesDay
"Delivering biologic drugs across the blood-brain barrier now seems achievable," explains Jim Gorman, Wyss Senior Director of Translational R&D and PI for the Brain Targeting Program.
Learn more about this exciting program, its progress, and how you can get involved.
Learn more about this exciting program, its progress, and how you can get involved.
Crossing the barrier: Wyss Brain Targeting Program is delivering on its promise
By Seth Kroll (BOSTON) — Launched in 2019 as an ambitious idea, the Wyss Brain Targeting Program was designed to address a critical challenge in neuroscience and brain health: how to safely and effect...
wyss.harvard.edu
November 13, 2025 at 4:37 PM
"Delivering biologic drugs across the blood-brain barrier now seems achievable," explains Jim Gorman, Wyss Senior Director of Translational R&D and PI for the Brain Targeting Program.
Learn more about this exciting program, its progress, and how you can get involved.
Learn more about this exciting program, its progress, and how you can get involved.
Reposted by The Wyss Institute at Harvard University
💡 Researchers from the @wyssinstitute.bsky.social have showed they can use messenger RNA to activate the pathway and trigger the immune system to attack tumors!
Check out the work from the Artzi lab in PNAS: https://bit.ly/4oBNqGe
Press release: https://bit.ly/447OtFD
Check out the work from the Artzi lab in PNAS: https://bit.ly/4oBNqGe
Press release: https://bit.ly/447OtFD
November 13, 2025 at 2:02 AM
💡 Researchers from the @wyssinstitute.bsky.social have showed they can use messenger RNA to activate the pathway and trigger the immune system to attack tumors!
Check out the work from the Artzi lab in PNAS: https://bit.ly/4oBNqGe
Press release: https://bit.ly/447OtFD
Check out the work from the Artzi lab in PNAS: https://bit.ly/4oBNqGe
Press release: https://bit.ly/447OtFD
Wyss and @brighamandwomens.bsky.social researchers have developed a novel RNA therapy that overrides an immune-suppressive function in tumor cells to re-engage the immune system in complex tumors. @pnas.org
Beating cancer cells at their own game by stepping on their cGAS
By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Cancer cells develop various strategies to paralyze immune cells to evade their attack in the complex tumor microenvironment (TME). Using one such strategy, they crippl...
wyss.harvard.edu
November 12, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Wyss and @brighamandwomens.bsky.social researchers have developed a novel RNA therapy that overrides an immune-suppressive function in tumor cells to re-engage the immune system in complex tumors. @pnas.org
We can't stop time, but what if we could slow or reverse aging? The Ichor project aims to address age-related diseases by using high-throughput genetic screening to identify networks of genes strongly implicated in aging processes and develop RNA-based therapies that can make old cells young again.
Ichor: Reversing Aging
Ichor is addressing multiple age-related diseases by identifying genetic interventions that reprogram old cells to a younger state. Therapies based on these interventions could improve survival for…
buff.ly
November 11, 2025 at 3:53 PM
We can't stop time, but what if we could slow or reverse aging? The Ichor project aims to address age-related diseases by using high-throughput genetic screening to identify networks of genes strongly implicated in aging processes and develop RNA-based therapies that can make old cells young again.
Wyss Founding Director, Donald Ingber was featured in last night's episode of @60minutes.bsky.social as part of a segment on funding cuts to Harvard and science in general. Ingber, along with other Harvard faculty, spoke about how their potentially life-saving advances have been jeopardized.
What's at risk when federal research funding to universities is cut | 60 Minutes
Federal research funding to universities has fueled breakthroughs for years. The White House is pressuring universities to align with the president's political agenda, or risk losing their funding.
www.cbsnews.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Wyss Founding Director, Donald Ingber was featured in last night's episode of @60minutes.bsky.social as part of a segment on funding cuts to Harvard and science in general. Ingber, along with other Harvard faculty, spoke about how their potentially life-saving advances have been jeopardized.
Organ Chips are microfluidic devices, developed at the Wyss, that are lined with living human cells that recapitulate the complex structures and functions of human organs. Emulate, Inc. is leveraging this tech to enable faster, better, & cheaper therapeutic development & insights into human health.
Human Organs-on-Chips
Organ Chips are microfluidic devices lined with living human cells for drug development, disease modeling, and personalized medicine. Launched in 2014, Wyss startup Emulate, Inc., is leveraging the…
buff.ly
November 9, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Organ Chips are microfluidic devices, developed at the Wyss, that are lined with living human cells that recapitulate the complex structures and functions of human organs. Emulate, Inc. is leveraging this tech to enable faster, better, & cheaper therapeutic development & insights into human health.
Blood Clot Dx is a microfluidic chip device that can non-invasively monitor a patient’s blood for evidence of clotting in real time. The first application will be in patients with MPM, an aggressive lung cancer. Eventually, this could be used to detect blood clots in a variety of contexts.
Blood Clot Dx
An ultra-sensitive triage test that identifies patients at risk for blood clots before they happen, enabling proactive treatment to reduce complications and deaths across a wide range of conditions.
buff.ly
November 8, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Blood Clot Dx is a microfluidic chip device that can non-invasively monitor a patient’s blood for evidence of clotting in real time. The first application will be in patients with MPM, an aggressive lung cancer. Eventually, this could be used to detect blood clots in a variety of contexts.
Wyss researchers developed a human lung alveolus chip infection model, which enables the investigation of viral replication, inflammatory responses, and genetic off-target effects of a novel pan-influenza CRISPR therapy.
Human Organ Chip technology sets stage for pan-influenza A CRISPR RNA therapies
By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) – The Influenza A virus (IAV) has been the cause of six major flu pandemics, responsible for 50 to 100 million deaths globally. In the U.S. alone, it is estimated that, d...
wyss.harvard.edu
November 7, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Wyss researchers developed a human lung alveolus chip infection model, which enables the investigation of viral replication, inflammatory responses, and genetic off-target effects of a novel pan-influenza CRISPR therapy.
Learn more about our Sustainable Futures Initiative, our latest innovations, and how we're integrated into a larger ecosystem of supporters and collaborators to find innovative solutions to the crisis facing our planet.
Sustainable Futures: creating a healthy planet for all
By Seth Kroll The planet’s health directly impacts human health. Plastic pollution, unsustainable manufacturing, and carbon-intensive material production are accelerating a planetary crisis that deman...
wyss.harvard.edu
November 6, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Learn more about our Sustainable Futures Initiative, our latest innovations, and how we're integrated into a larger ecosystem of supporters and collaborators to find innovative solutions to the crisis facing our planet.
Join us in congratulating Core Faculty member Christopher Chen on his election to the @nationalacademies.org of Medicine! Chen is also the William F. Warren Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at @bostonu.bsky.social.
Wyss Institute Core Faculty member Christopher S. Chen elected to the National Academy of Medicine
By Alexandra Jirstrand (BOSTON) — Christopher S. Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and the William F. Warren Dis...
wyss.harvard.edu
November 5, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Join us in congratulating Core Faculty member Christopher Chen on his election to the @nationalacademies.org of Medicine! Chen is also the William F. Warren Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at @bostonu.bsky.social.
What is it really like to do research? We're demystifying life as a scientist by dispelling common myths and misconceptions, starting with the frequency of "eureka" moments.
November 4, 2025 at 5:47 PM
What is it really like to do research? We're demystifying life as a scientist by dispelling common myths and misconceptions, starting with the frequency of "eureka" moments.
"Charles Park is an example of the kind of bold thinker we want in the Wyss & @harvardseas.bsky.social communities. He is not only asking deep mechanistic questions but also thinking about patient impact," explains Samir Mitragotri. Park was recently named a @statnews.com Wunderkind.
Charles Park named 2025 STAT Wunderkind
By Seth Kroll (BOSTON) — The Wyss Institute is proud to announce that Charles Park, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Wyss’ Immuno-Materials Platform with Wyss Core Faculty member Samir Mitagotr...
wyss.harvard.edu
November 4, 2025 at 4:28 PM
"Charles Park is an example of the kind of bold thinker we want in the Wyss & @harvardseas.bsky.social communities. He is not only asking deep mechanistic questions but also thinking about patient impact," explains Samir Mitragotri. Park was recently named a @statnews.com Wunderkind.
Reposted by The Wyss Institute at Harvard University
This paper validates the original work establishing this concept for the cGAS-STING pathway. Kudos to the authors.
@wyssinstitute.bsky.social
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@wyssinstitute.bsky.social
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
mRNAs encoding self-DNA reactive cGAS enhance the immunogenicity of lipid nanoparticle vaccines | mBio
Nucleic acid-based vaccines hold promise in preventing infections and treating cancer.
The most common use of this technology is to encode antigenic proteins on mRNAs that
are delivered to cells via l...
journals.asm.org
November 4, 2025 at 3:31 PM
This paper validates the original work establishing this concept for the cGAS-STING pathway. Kudos to the authors.
@wyssinstitute.bsky.social
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@wyssinstitute.bsky.social
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by The Wyss Institute at Harvard University
Visionary talk from Jennifer Lewis yesterday at the MIT.nano Dresselhaus Lecture, highlighting opportunities for 3D printing in soft robotics & tissue engineering! You can watch the full lecture and the q&a session (moderated by me!) here: mitnano.mit.edu/events/dress...
@wyssinstitute.bsky.social
@wyssinstitute.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Visionary talk from Jennifer Lewis yesterday at the MIT.nano Dresselhaus Lecture, highlighting opportunities for 3D printing in soft robotics & tissue engineering! You can watch the full lecture and the q&a session (moderated by me!) here: mitnano.mit.edu/events/dress...
@wyssinstitute.bsky.social
@wyssinstitute.bsky.social
Wyss and @harvardseas.bsky.social researchers have developed a novel vaccine strategy to prevent the infection of implanted orthopedic devices.
Biomaterial vaccines to make implanted orthopedic devices safer
By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Patients with implanted medical devices like orthopedic joint replacements, pacemakers, and artificial heart valves run a small but significant risk that these devices ...
wyss.harvard.edu
November 3, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Wyss and @harvardseas.bsky.social researchers have developed a novel vaccine strategy to prevent the infection of implanted orthopedic devices.